There are few names in the entertainment industry as polarizing as Roseanne Barr. Known for her sharp wit and unapologetic personality, Barr’s rise to fame on Roseanne was followed by an equally controversial fall from grace after a tweet in 2018 led to her firing from the show’s revival.
The dust has barely settled from that scandal, but now, Barr is once again calling out Disney CEO Bob Iger for the fallout, accusing him of being “so racist” in an explosive interview with Variety.
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The dispute stems from Barr’s infamous tweet, which compared Valerie Jarrett, a former Obama adviser, to an ape. The comment was widely condemned as racist, and in a swift move, ABC, owned by Disney, canceled the Roseanne revival. What followed was a wave of backlash against Barr, who initially apologized but has since done a complete 180 in her stance.
In the new Variety interview, Barr insists she’s no longer remorseful for her actions. Instead, she has shifted her focus to the corporate giants behind her cancellation, accusing them of racial bias.
“They were so racist that they thought my tweet said Black people look like monkeys when it was about ‘Planet of the Apes,’ which is a movie about fascism. Rod Serling himself said it’s about the Jews in Germany. It is not a movie about Black people, Bob.”
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Barr doesn’t stop there. She also opens up about how she feels Disney’s decision to cancel her show was rooted in more than just her tweet.
I don’t feel vindicated. I felt pissed off that they stole my rights and killed me. They didn’t kill J.K. Rowling’s characters. It was so stupid and shortsighted, and I don’t know how they answer to their shareholders for canceling me before even one sponsor pulled out.
For Barr, it wasn’t just about the tweet. She believes the deeper issue was political, claiming that her support for Donald Trump played a significant role in how the executives at ABC and Disney treated her.
According to Barr, when the Roseanne revival was pitched, she wanted to make the show a more direct reflection of America’s current political divide. But her vision for the series was allegedly sidelined, with executives rejecting her ideas outright. Barr argues that this, in addition to her tweet, led to her being targeted by Disney and ABC.
Her disdain for Bob Iger is particularly pronounced. Barr has accused Iger of orchestrating a campaign to destroy her career, and she points to an incident involving comedian Jimmy Kimmel.
Barr says Iger played a role in getting Kimmel to call her a racist, a claim she feels is ironic, especially in light of Kimmel’s own history of performing in blackface.
I don’t know if he sees anything when he looks in the mirror,” she says of the Disney chief. “And then he gets Jimmy to call me a racist. Kimmel did blackface, right?” (Barr, of course, knows the answer to her own question. “Roseanne Is America” resurfaces the Kimmel clip as well as an even more cringeworthy one featuring Joy Behar in blackface.)
Despite the backlash, Barr stands firm in her belief that her political views were a primary reason behind her firing. She claims that Disney executives—whom she refers to as both “racist” and “classist”—took issue with her outspoken support of Trump.
Barr further emphasizes that her creative direction for the show was disregarded when it didn’t align with the company’s values. Her objections to certain storylines, like the inclusion of a grandchild who was part of the LGBTQ+ community, only made her feel more alienated within the network.
As for the aftermath, Barr has not shied away from confronting the consequences of her firing. While the Roseanne revival was canceled after one season, ABC decided to continue the show’s legacy with a spinoff, The Conners. While the show has found success without Barr’s character, the network made a bold decision to write her off with a dramatic storyline: her character dies from an accidental drug overdose.
What do you think about Barr’s comments? Do you believe she’s justified in her claims against Bob Iger and ABC, or do you think her actions were too extreme to be defended? Share your thoughts in the comments below and join the conversation!
